President Obama was wrong in his State of the Union speech. Nuclear power is neither safe nor clean.

The National Academy of Sciences stated in a 2005 study that there is no safe level of radiation exposure. Yet every nuclear reactor emits radiation into our air and water.

Every nuclear reactor poses the threat of a meltdown and offers a potential terrorist target.

Every nuclear reactor generates lethal radioactive waste. We have no means of protecting the environment from the waste that reactors have produced over the past 50 years, much less waste from new reactors.

Nuclear power is not a solution to the climate crisis. According to studies, its carbon emissions are some six times higher than wind, per kilowatt of electricity produced, and two to three times higher than solar power.

Offshore oil drilling and "clean" coal can't help, either. Burning oil and coal are among the biggest factors in causing climate change.

President Obama was right on one thing: We need strong climate legislation. But fighting climate change with nuclear power, coal and oil would be self-defeating and expensive. We should focus our attention on speedy implementation of solar, wind, energy efficiency and other safe and clean technologies.